La casa del Señor :D

Hna Merrell and I with the temple

Dear family and friends,

For me, everything changed this week. We got to attend the temple on Wednesday, and the experience was very humbling for me because I was reminded of how great and powerful the Lord is, and how small and weak I am in comparison. I realized I`ve been trying to rely too much on myself and relying too little on Him. Once I realized that, my way of thinking changed. My attitude changed. And I felt the grace of Jesus Christ almost physically pick me up, straighten my shoulders, and push me forward.

Forward, to talk with the throngs of God`s children that flock our area, which is the center of Cojutepeque. Forward, to the next house, feeling animated even though the previous contact had just refused to let us share our message.

I love the temple. I hope all of you women were able to hear the women`s broadcast on Saturday night. It was full of inspired messages, including one by one of the Lord`s chosen Apostles alive today: Dieter F. Uchtdorf. The theme of the broadcast was clearly the temple, why it`s so important to strive to be worthy to enter the temple and the great blessings we may receive when we attend the temple.

I know making and keeping temple covenants brings us closer to God, and they are essential for us to be able to live with Him someday. I loved something my dad shared with me from the recent Ogden Temple dedication: `Recommends are not entry tickets but are a show of your eternal character.` (Donald L. Hallstrom)

Also, GENERAL CONFERENCE is coming up! Before the mission, I heard someone say that General Conference is like the Superbowl for missionaries. Since I`m not really a football fan (I freely admit I still don`t understand all the ins and outs of football, much less know anything about any team), I`ll provide a different example: For missionaries, General Conference is better than Christmas.

This is a precious opportunity for each of us to have our testimonies of Jesus Christ strengthened by the Lord`s prophet on earth today, Thomas S. Monson, as well as his counselors and the Twelve Apostles. Don`t miss it! Listen to every session you can! And pay attention as if it were the Lord Himself speaking to us, because it is.

I know Jesus lives and loves us. I know, as President Uchtdorf said in his talk Saturday, that God is constantly showering blessings upon us. It is up to us to close our umbrellas (aka, obey His commandments) and enjoy the fulness of the rain.

I love you! Carry on in hope and faith! Remember, faith is the antidote to fear.

Hna Henrie

temple grounds (sigh... I love beautiful El Salvador)

Sigo en Cojute (Still in Cojute)

Dear family and friends,

As the subject line says, I continue in Cojutepeque! Meaning I didn`t have cambios. (And neither did Hna Merrell, so we`re still together. We`re both happy about that. :) )

We had an awesome lesson about the Libro de Mormon with our miracle investigator Yoana (pronounced JO-anna). She did everything she could to get Sunday morning off work to be able to come to church, but unfortunately it didn`t work out for yesterday. Hna Merrell and I hope she`ll be able to come this week. She is so prepared in every other way, I know the Lord will provide a way for her to keep the commandment of dìa de reposo (keeping the Sabbath day holy). She (and we, as missionaries,) just need to have faith and patience.

We had to stop visiting some investigators this week because they didn`t have the desire to progress to baptism. It`s always a little sad when you have to explain to an investigator that you won`t be visiting them anymore (or vice versa, when an investigator asks you to please stop coming by), but we must continue in faith that we will find other investigators that the Lord has prepared to hear our message.

Sometimes that`s how the mission goes. There`s a lesson in this for life: sometimes life just doesn`t go our way. Things don`t work out, or we face difficult challenges and problems. But I have learned over and over again every time I start to feel a little burdened down by our sinful world, that the only person who can make things all right is our Savior Jesus Christ. If we can truly humble ourselves in prayer and ask God what He would have us do, we will receive the strength and/or the guidance we need to carry on.

As the Mormon pioneers once sang, as they walked a thousand miles to a place none of them knew: All is well, all is well!

Love,

Hna Henrie

el Dìa de Independencia

Dear family and friends,

Happy Independence Day! (15 septiembre here in Central America)

Presidente changed p-day to Tuesday for this week only because of Independence Day yesterday. I don`t know exactly why, I only obey.

Independence Day was tranquilo here in Cojute. They had a parade in the morning (which we did not attend) and the rest of the day was just like any other day, with the only addition of almost everyone having the day off work and school.

Hna Merrell and I had a decent week. We found new investigators, left old investigators that weren`t interested in progressing more, and worked diligently to accomplish our goals. The highlight of the week was hands down a lesson we had on Sunday with a brand-new investigator. Her name is Joana, and she`s new and rather alone in Cojutepeque. All her family and friends live in San Salvador, she only moved here to be closer to her new job.

Long story short, she was definitely prepared to hear our message. When we shared the story of Joseph Smith and recited his own description of the vision in which God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him, she rubbed her arms and commented that the story gave her goosebumps- but good goosebumps, accompanied by a warm feeling in her chest that she`d never experienced before. We helped her recognize that feeling as the Spirit testifying to her of the truthfulness of the message. She committed to ask her boss for Sunday morning off so that she can attend church. It was a neat experience.

In other news, remember the Ventura family? The mother accompanied her kids to church for the first time this week! We`re hoping to help the father come too, on this coming Sunday.

I hope you`re all doing well, and are happy and healthy. Take care, and remember to make time for the spiritual things. God is all-knowing, and we should always evaluate ourselves to be sure our testimony of His doctrine is sure. Helaman 5:12. Believe me, it`s not worth questioning Him, even on seemingly little things. And we cannot pick and choose which parts of His doctrine we believe in. It`s all or nothing. Celestial Kingdom or bust!

Love you lots!

Hna Henrie

Miracles of the week

Making pizza with Hna Ramirez, our cocinera

Dear family:

This week we had a zone conference, where the zone leaders Elder Cardoza (Honduras) and Elder Tabango (Ecuador) taught us to be more direct when we teach the message of the Restoration. They also asked us to start presenting ourselves as authorized servants of God before we even begin teaching, from the moment we contact someone on the street. It was truly inspired counsel, because as we applied it in our area, we saw some immediate results.

One miracle happened yesterday evening. We were visiting a Catholic family for the second time, and when we asked if they had read the pamphlet about the Restoration or prayed to know if our message was true, they said no. So we started over with lesson one, explaining in a very direct manner how Christ had restored His true and complete Gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith. Hna Merrell concluded, `Hoy en dìa, la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es la ùnica que tiene esta autoridad para enseñar y bautizar. Es la ùnica iglesia verdadera de Dios.` (Today, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church that has this authority to teach and baptize. It is the only true church of God.)

That got their attention. The husband of the family, Edgar, asked us, `Are you saying that the baptism I received in the Catholic Church wasn`t done by someone with God`s priesthood authority?`

We answered: `Your baptism was great because you were showing your faith in God. But showing faith isn`t the only reason we need to be baptized. We need to be baptized so that we can be cleansed from sin and start new lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. The only way you can be cleansed from sin and born again is by being baptized by someone holding the restored priesthood authority of God. The only church that has that authority today is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.`

He was left thinking. After the closing prayer, he followed us to the door and said, `Look hermanas, several years ago I had a classmate that goes to your church. Right now he`s serving a mission, like you, in Panama. Before he left he gave me a Book of Mormon. But until now I didn`t really understand what it meant, or that I could pray and ask God if your church is true.`

It was a great experience. It strengthened my testimony and my faith. Earlier this week, I had been feeling a little down because even though we`ve been contacting like crazy, we hadn`t found very many people that were really interested in listening. But when we taught that very direct lesson to Edgar and his family, the Spirit testified to me (at the same time it testified to them) that what I was saying was true.

I know it is true! God has confirmed it to me, time and time again, through the power of the Holy Ghost. I know it`s true, and you can know, too, when you ask Him. Matthew 7:7-8. It will make all the difference in your life.

In other news, WE HAD A BAPTISM! Gilberto, Jr. (I may have mentioned him) was baptized Saturday night by his younger brother, Edwin. Then his mother shared her testimony. It was a beautiful service. This Gospel is such a blessing to families! The family truly is ordained of God.

I hope you all have great weeks!

Much love,
Hermana Henrie

Last p day we de-iced the fridge with a hair dryer, a knife, warm water, and our fingers. haha :) It is now a beautiful, very clean fridge.

We found a beautiful family

Dear family and friends,

I have seen many blessings this week as Hermana Merrell and I hit the streets hard, talking to as many people as we could. We visited 36 new houses this week, following up on prior contacts and inviting them to listen to the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of the many people we found this week was the Ventura family. They live in a messon, which is basically like an apartment building, where many different people live together in rented rooms. We knocked on the door looking for a different contact, but we ended up teaching them instead because the other person wasn`t at home. The parents are young, they don`t look much older than 25 to me, and they have three wonderful children of 9, 5, and not-quite-one years.

It just so happened that the father is the nephew of Concepcion, the member who was working with us that day. Yesterday Concepcion went by their house on her way to church and brought the two older children to church. They were very well behaved in sacrament meeting and thoroughly enjoyed the following two hours of Primary class. Kevin (the oldest) said his favorite part of Primary was when everyone sang.

We shared the Book of Mormon with them yesterday afternoon. Hermano Ventura was a bit familiar with it already, and helped us teach his wife that it is sacred scripture and complements the teachings in the Holy Bible. We talked about how reading the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, will strengthen their love and family unity and invite the Spirit to their home. They committed to read at least one page of the Book of Mormon together as a family every day this week.

I hope you are all staying healthy and happy! Remember when we put God first in our lives, He blesses us grandemente! In what ways can you remember Him throughout your day?

I sure love you, each and every one of you. THIS MEANS YOU! Take care!



Hna Henrie

oh, p.s., a big thank you to all my family members who wrote me letters from the family reunion at Snowbird! I got them this week and really enjoyed them! Keep on being great!